Challenging Child Labor

What is the Philippine Experience?

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights reports that if this exploitative Practice is a fact of life in the affluent society, it is even more shameful andDisgraceful in poor and developing countries. There are about four million child Laborers in the Philippines aged between 5 to 17 years.

More than 2.5 million areClassified as “unpaid workers” in their own family-operated businesses. While some900,000 child laborers work in private establishments, more than 350,000 are householdHelps and 270,000 are self-employed.

Sixty percent of our child laborers are unprotected from hazardous environment that put their health and life at risk, which include long exposure to deadly chemicals as well as physical dangers.

Somewhat frightening is the moral depravation to which many of thesechildren are exposed. Child labor is a bold illustration of prioritization of material realities over the human person or profit maximization at all cost.

Angered by this dismal practice, symbolic protest known as the Global March Against Child Labor was launched by the Office of thePresident on Janury 16, 1998, at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.

The mass action, attented by foreign dignitaries and children-representatives from all over asia, was meant to champion the cause of 250 million children worldwide and 3.7 million nationwide who are forced to work for survival. In 2002, the International Labor Organization declared June 12 as Anti-Child Labor Day (McCann,2005)

Old Enough to Work?The age at which it is deemed acceptable for children to undertake certain tasks varies from country to country. In 1991, age limits included the following:

12 years old: Egypt – seasonal work; Benin – light agriculture; Senegal – seasonal work13 years old: Denmark – shop assistant; Tunisia andSwitzerland – light non-industrial14 years old: Cyprus – construction, India – explosives; Sri Lanka – street trades15 years old: Thailand – bars; Italy – machinery inMotion; Dominican Republic -- mining

What constitutes child labor?

Child labor, the employment of children below 15 years old, is both illegal and unethical..

On June 17, 1992, RA 7610, also known as the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act was approved by the president of the Philippines.

On May 12, 1994, RA 7658 was issued by the Department of Labor and Employment which provides that, among others, it is illegal to employ children under 15 years of age.

What are the dire reasons why

children work?

Poverty

Traditional distorted beliefsConvenience on the part of the employer

What are the evil consequences of

child labor?

Physical Deterioration

Mental wasting

Low aspiration

Moral decay